You can be on Entrepreneur’s cover!

Co-founder of Chesapeake Energy Corp. Dies in Car Accident Aubrey McClendon died one day after the U.S. Department of Justice indicted him for allegedly violating antitrust laws by colluding to rig bids for oil and gas acreage.

By Reuters

entrepreneur daily

This story originally appeared on Reuters

Aubrey McClendon, the co-founder of Chesapeake Energy Corp who led it to become one of the world's biggest natural gas producers before he was tarred by federal anti-trust charges, died on Wednesday in a car accident in Oklahoma City, police said. He was 56.

McClendon died one day after the U.S. Department of Justice indicted him for allegedly violating antitrust laws by colluding to rig bids for oil and gas acreage while he was at Chesapeake, which has been a central player in the U.S. fracking revolution of the past decade. He denied the charges.

McClendon resigned from Chesapeake in 2013 after a corporate governance crisis and investor concerns over his heavy spending.

He went on to start American Energy Partners, and with the help of private equity funds, made huge bets on vast oil acreage around the United States and Australia.

Police said they were investigating the cause of the crash that occurred when McClendon was driving his 2013 Chevy Tahoe. Police said the vehicle was so badly burned they were unable to tell if McClendon was wearing his seat belt.

A native of Oklahoma, he attended Duke University before starting Chesapeake with his friend Tom Ward, who went on to lead SandRidge Energy Inc. for a time.

"Chesapeake is deeply saddened by the news that we have heard today and our thoughts and prayers are with the McClendon family during this difficult time," a Chesapeake spokesman said in a statement.

(Reporting by Liz Hampton, Jessica Resnick Ault and Ernest Scheyder; Writing by Terry Wade; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business News

Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Multibillion-Dollar Crypto Fraud

Southern District of New York Judge Lewis Kaplan said that the loss amount to the victims of Bankman-Fried's crimes surpassed $550 million.

Side Hustle

This Mom Started a Side Hustle After a 'Shocking' Realization in the Toy Aisle. Her Product Was in Macy's Within the Year — Seeing Nearly $350,000 in Sales.

Elenor Mak, now founder of Jilly Bing, didn't plan to start a business — but the search for a doll that looked like her daughter inspired her to do just that.

Growing a Business

To Achieve Sustainable Success, You Need to Stop Focusing on Disruption. Here's Why — and What You Must Focus on Instead.

Instead of zeroing in solely on disruptive innovation, embrace a pragmatic approach to innovation, recognizing and leveraging the potential within ongoing industry shifts.

Marketing

5 Ways to Get on the Media's Good Side (and Stay There)

When you're trying to make a name and a mark for yourself and your business, it's really important to get on the media's good side — and stay there.

Business News

Mark Zuckerberg Told Meta Engineers to 'Figure Out' Snapchat's Privacy Protections: 'We Have No Analytics on Them'

Recently unsealed court documents detail "Project Ghostbusters," Meta's project to work around Snapchat's end-to-end encryption to intercept data.